[Fis] _ Pirate Bay of Science

[Bob Logan]

Dear FISers fyi - Bob




> Begin forwarded message:
> 
> 
> 
>> http://www.sciencealert.com/this-woman-has-illegally-uploaded-millions-of-journal-articles-in-an-attempt-to-open-up-science
>>  
>> 
>> 
>> Researcher illegally shares millions of science papers free online to spread 
>> knowledge
>> Welcome to the Pirate Bay of science.
>> FIONA MACDONALD12 FEB 2016
>> A researcher in Russia has made more than 48 million journal articles - 
>> almost every single peer-reviewed paper every published - freely available 
>> online. And she's now refusing to shut the site down 
>> , despite a court 
>> injunction and a lawsuit from Elsevier, one of the world's biggest 
>> publishers.
>> 
>> For those of you who aren't already using it, the site in question is 
>> Sci-Hub , and it's sort of like a Pirate Bay of the 
>> science world. It was established in 2011 by neuroscientist Alexandra 
>> Elbakyan, who was frustrated that she couldn't afford to access the articles 
>> needed for her research, and it's since gone viral, with hundreds of 
>> thousands of papers being downloaded daily. But at the end of last year, the 
>> site was ordered to be taken down by a New York district court 
>> 
>>  - a ruling that Elbakyan has decided to fight, triggering a debate over who 
>> really owns science. 
>> 
>> "Payment of $32 is just insane when you need to skim or read tens or 
>> hundreds of these papers to do research. I obtained these papers by pirating 
>> them,"Elbakyan told Torrent Freak last year 
>> .
>>  "Everyone should have access to knowledge regardless of their income or 
>> affiliation. And that’s absolutely legal."
>> 
>> If it sounds like a modern day Robin Hood struggle, that's because it kinda 
>> is. But in this story, it's not just the poor who don't have access to 
>> scientific papers - journal subscriptions have become so expensive that 
>> leading universities such as Harvard 
>> 
>>  and Cornell 
>>  have 
>> admitted they can no longer afford them. Researchers have also taken a stand 
>> - with 15,000 scientists vowing to boycott publisher Elsevier 
>>  in part for its excessive paywall fees.
>> 
>> Don't get us wrong, journal publishers have also done a whole lot of good - 
>> they've encouraged better research thanks to peer review, and before the 
>> Internet, they were crucial to the dissemination of knowledge.
>> 
>> But in recent years, more and more people are beginning to question whether 
>> they're still helping the progress of science. In fact, in some cases, the 
>> 'publish or perish' mentality 
>> 
>>  is creating more problems than solutions, with a growing number of 
>> predatory publishers now charging researchers to have their work published - 
>> often without any proper peer review process or even editing 
>> .
>> 
>> "They feel pressured to do this," Elbakyan wrote in an open letter to the 
>> New York judge last year 
>> . "If a researcher wants 
>> to be recognised, make a career - he or she needs to have publications in 
>> such journals."
>> 
>> That's where Sci-Hub comes into the picture. The site works in two stages. 
>> First of all when you search for a paper, Sci-Hub tries to immediately 
>> download it from fellow pirate database LibGen 
>> . If that 
>> doesn't work, Sci-Hub is able to bypass journal paywalls thanks to a range 
>> of access keys that have been donated by anonymous academics (thank you, 
>> science spies).
>> 
>> This means that Sci-Hub can instantly access any paper published by the big 
>> guys, including JSTOR, Springer, Sage, and Elsevier, and deliver it to you 
>> for free within seconds. The site then automatically sends a copy of that 
>> paper to LibGen, to help share the love.  
>> 
>> It's an ingenious system, as Simon Oxenham explains for Big Think 
>> :
>> 
>> "In one fell swoop, a network has been created that likely has a greater 
>> level of access to science than any individual university, or even 
>> government for that matter, anywhere   in the world. Sci-Hub 
>> repres

Re: [Fis] _ Pirate Bay of Science

[Mark Johnson]

hear, hear!

There's something important about the politics of information in this case.
Sociologist Steve Fuller has argued that the open access movement is merely
a "consumerist revolt, academic style" (see
http://sociologicalimagination.org/archives/9953/comment-page-1). It's an
interesting case he makes, but I think he's wrong.

Is there a connection between Floridi's information ethics and open access
where a more defensible justification grounded in information science can
be made? Or some other theoretical framework?

best wish,

Mark

On 13 February 2016 at 16:12, Bob Logan  wrote:

> Dear FISers fyi - Bob
>
>
>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>
>
>
> http://www.sciencealert.com/this-woman-has-illegally-uploaded-millions-of-journal-articles-in-an-attempt-to-open-up-science
>
> Researcher illegally shares millions of science papers free online to
> spread knowledge
>
> Welcome to the Pirate Bay of science.
> FIONA MACDONALD
> 12 FEB 2016
>
> A researcher in Russia has made more than 48 million journal articles -
> almost every single peer-reviewed paper every published - freely available
> online. And she's now refusing to shut the site down
> , despite a
> court injunction and a lawsuit from Elsevier, one of the world's biggest
> publishers.
>
> For those of you who aren't already using it, the site in question is
> Sci-Hub , and it's sort of like a Pirate Bay of the
> science world. It was established in 2011 by neuroscientist Alexandra
> Elbakyan, who was frustrated that she couldn't afford to access the
> articles needed for her research, and it's since gone viral, with hundreds
> of thousands of papers being downloaded daily. But at the end of last year,
> the site was ordered to be taken down by a New York district court
> 
>  - a ruling that Elbakyan has decided to fight, triggering a debate over
> who really owns science.
>
> "Payment of $32 is just insane when you need to skim or read tens or
> hundreds of these papers to do research. I obtained these papers by
> pirating them,"Elbakyan told Torrent Freak last year
> 
> . "Everyone should have access to knowledge regardless of their income or
> affiliation. And that’s absolutely legal."
>
> If it sounds like a modern day Robin Hood struggle, that's because it
> kinda is. But in this story, it's not just the poor who don't have access
> to scientific papers - journal subscriptions have become so expensive that
> leading universities such as Harvard
> 
>  and Cornell
>  have
> admitted they can no longer afford them. Researchers have also taken a
> stand - with 15,000 scientists vowing to boycott publisher Elsevier
>  in part for its excessive paywall fees.
>
> Don't get us wrong, journal publishers have also done a whole lot of good
> - they've encouraged better research thanks to peer review, and before the
> Internet, they were crucial to the dissemination of knowledge.
>
> But in recent years, more and more people are beginning to question
> whether they're still helping the progress of science. In fact, in some
> cases, the 'publish or perish' mentality
> 
>  is creating more problems than solutions, with a growing number of
> predatory publishers now charging researchers to have their work published
> - often without any proper peer review process or even editing
> 
> .
>
> "They feel pressured to do this," Elbakyan wrote in an open letter to the
> New York judge last year
> . "If a researcher
> wants to be recognised, make a career - he or she needs to have
> publications in such journals."
>
> That's where Sci-Hub comes into the picture. The site works in two stages.
> First of all when you search for a paper, Sci-Hub tries to immediately
> download it from fellow pirate database LibGen
> . If that
> doesn't work, Sci-Hub is able to bypass journal paywalls thanks to a range
> of access keys that have been donated by anonymous academics (thank you,
> science spies).
>
> This means that Sci-Hub can instantly access any paper published by the
> big guys, including JSTOR, Springer, Sage, and Elsevier, and deliver it to
> you for free within seconds. The site then automatically sends a copy of
> that paper to LibGen, to help share the love.
>
> It's an ingenious system,

Re: [Fis] _ Pirate Bay of Science

[Krassimir Markov]

Thank you, Bob!
Yes, this is a great problem!
But in the same time, where is the recycle bin for billions of not needed but 
written papers?
The answer is clear!
So, I wish long live to paid repositories!
This is the chance for Open access publishing!
Kind regards
Krassimir

PS: Welcome to open access www.ithea.org ! 


From: Bob Logan 
Sent: Saturday, February 13, 2016 6:12 PM
To: fis 
Subject: [Fis] _ Pirate Bay of Science

Dear FISers fyi - Bob 





  Begin forwarded message:




http://www.sciencealert.com/this-woman-has-illegally-uploaded-millions-of-journal-articles-in-an-attempt-to-open-up-science

Researcher illegally shares millions of science papers free online to 
spread knowledge
Welcome to the Pirate Bay of science.

FIONA MACDONALD12 FEB 2016A researcher in Russia has made more than 48 
million journal articles - almost every single peer-reviewed paper every 
published - freely available online. And she's now refusing to shut the site 
down, despite a court injunction and a lawsuit from Elsevier, one of the 
world's biggest publishers.

For those of you who aren't already using it, the site in question is 
Sci-Hub, and it's sort of like a Pirate Bay of the science world. It was 
established in 2011 by neuroscientist Alexandra Elbakyan, who was frustrated 
that she couldn't afford to access the articles needed for her research, and 
it's since gone viral, with hundreds of thousands of papers being downloaded 
daily. But at the end of last year, the site was ordered to be taken down by a 
New York district court - a ruling that Elbakyan has decided to fight, 
triggering a debate over who really owns science. 


"Payment of $32 is just insane when you need to skim or read tens or 
hundreds of these papers to do research. I obtained these papers by pirating 
them,"Elbakyan told Torrent Freak last year. "Everyone should have access to 
knowledge regardless of their income or affiliation. And that’s absolutely 
legal."

If it sounds like a modern day Robin Hood struggle, that's because it kinda 
is. But in this story, it's not just the poor who don't have access to 
scientific papers - journal subscriptions have become so expensive that leading 
universities such as Harvard and Cornell have admitted they can no longer 
afford them. Researchers have also taken a stand - with 15,000 scientists 
vowing to boycott publisher Elsevier in part for its excessive paywall fees.

Don't get us wrong, journal publishers have also done a whole lot of good - 
they've encouraged better research thanks to peer review, and before the 
Internet, they were crucial to the dissemination of knowledge.

But in recent years, more and more people are beginning to question whether 
they're still helping the progress of science. In fact, in some cases, the 
'publish or perish' mentality is creating more problems than solutions, with a 
growing number of predatory publishers now charging researchers to have their 
work published - often without any proper peer review process or even editing.

"They feel pressured to do this," Elbakyan wrote in an open letter to the 
New York judge last year. "If a researcher wants to be recognised, make a 
career - he or she needs to have publications in such journals."

That's where Sci-Hub comes into the picture. The site works in two stages. 
First of all when you search for a paper, Sci-Hub tries to immediately download 
it from fellow pirate database LibGen. If that doesn't work, Sci-Hub is able to 
bypass journal paywalls thanks to a range of access keys that have been donated 
by anonymous academics (thank you, science spies).

This means that Sci-Hub can instantly access any paper published by the big 
guys, including JSTOR, Springer, Sage, and Elsevier, and deliver it to you for 
free within seconds. The site then automatically sends a copy of that paper to 
LibGen, to help share the love.  

It's an ingenious system, as Simon Oxenham explains for Big Think:

  "In one fell swoop, a network has been created that likely has a greater 
level of access to science than any individual university, or even government 
for that matter, anywhere   in the world. Sci-Hub represents the 
sum of countless different universities' institutional access - literally a 
world of knowledge."

That's all well and good for us users, but understandably, the big 
publishers are pissed off. Last year, a New York court delivered an injunction 
against Sci-Hub, making its domain unavailable (something Elbakyan dodged by 
switching to a new location), and the site is also being sued by Elsevier for 
"irreparable harm" - a case that experts are predicting will win Elsevier 
around $750 to $150,000 for each pirated article. Even at the lowest 
estimations, that would quickly add up to m